Cool And Strange Music Magazine
ISSUE #8

We've got a two-month-old son hanging around our Space Age Married-Couple Pad these days and sometimes, more than anything else, Jimmy just wants to be entertained. He seems to like dancing around the living room with Mom and Dad, so it only seemed natural to slip Brave Combo's latest CD, Group Dance Epidemic, on to the Hi-Fi to see what Jim thought of it. Brave Combo, for those who might not know this, is the coolest band on Planet Earth. Carl Finch and his bandmates (Jeffrey Barnes, Joseph Cripps, Alan Emert, Bubba Hernandez and Danny O'Brien) mix and match dance music styles from around the world, rock them all up a bit and present them to a world that NEEDS to dance. After releasing polka albums, Latin albums and all sorts of other fun-loving records, it only seems natural that Brave Combo takes on the world of group dance. While you won't find the "Macarena" or the "Electric Slide" on Group Dance Epidemic, you will discover the band tearing through unique versions of "Mexican Hat Dance," "The Bunny hope" and not one, but two hot versions of the "Hokey Pokey". One of the "Hokey Pokeys", the rock version, could be a big hit on "modern rock" radio, that is, if modern rock stations weren't so boring and corporate these days. Based on our preliminary studies, Jimmy gives Group Dance Epidemic two baby thumbs up. He let me dance around with him for the first six tracks, from the rock version of "The Hokey Pokey" through the "The Chicken Dance." Jim started to fuss a bit during "Mana Vu", a slower tune, but we soon figured out that he was hungry, and that the crying wasn't an editorial comment. Group Dance Epidemic isn't the kind of album you'd always want to listen to in its entirety, and it's not the best place for someone to begin to explore Brave Combo albums (I'd start with Musical Varieties, a compilation of their early work and No, No, No, Cha Cha Cha, their "rock band goes Latin" album). However, if you're looking for a fun new twist on the wacky world of highly structured footwork trends, then Group Dance Epidemic is the party for you.

Reprinted with the permission of Rich Wilhelm & Cool and Strange Music Magazine

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